Wines to Gift This Festive Season

It is that time of the year when you scour the markets for gifts. Be it a pre-Diwali bash or a simple card party thrown by a friend, a frequent dilemma is- what to gift? The conundrum becomes even more pronounced when the decided gift happens to be wine. With a sea of bottles on the retail shelf, which one would be just the right one?

Here’s my attempt to shortlist some wines available in the Indian market for you. The selection is based on my personal experience of tasting these wines over a period of time. But before we come to the wines, let’s see some top considerations for gifting wine which will hold you in good stead.

Top 3 considerations for gifting wine

What you drink is what you gift (WYDWYG)

You have most likely heard of the acronym WYSWYG (What You See is What You Get). In case of wine, I would adapt it as WYDWYG.

The concept is self explanatory but let me illustrate it with an example. A wine-estate-owner friend of mine recently dumped a vintage of his wine down the drains notwithstanding his employees’ recommendation to donate it to charity. Why? Because he wouldn’t donate something that he wouldn’t drink himself.

Consideration 1: Buy wine for gifting as if you were buying it for yourself.

Don’t gift wine to non-wine drinkers

Image source: www.mashable.com

Let me narrate another personal experience. A wine oblivious relative of mine was gifted a great South African wine by someone who thought of it as a sophisticated gift. The wine eventually landed with me (to my glee of course) since my relative thought of me as its ideal candidate. Wouldn’t it have been better if he was gifted something of his liking instead?

Consideration 2: Gift wine only to those who would cherish it.

French wines ain’t always the best

A general perception among wine beginners in India is that French wines are the best. While there’s no denying France’s exalted status among wine producers of the world, it is also a fact that all quality wine producing nations including France, have a formalised quality system pegging their wines at different levels. It starts from table wines to country wines and even higher up to region-specific wines within that country.

French wine quality system Source: www.thebacklabel.com

Hence a higher quality wine from newer wine regions like the USA, Australia, New Zealand etc will almost always be better than a lower placed wines from French, Italian or other old wine producing countries.

Consideration 3: Buy wines for their quality and not nationality.

Recommended wines for gifting this season

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Notes:

The wines are listed in ascending order of price.

Wines only between the price range of ₹ 1000- 4000 (with the exception of Champagne) have been considered, being the optimum band visualised for gift buying.

Vintages where applicable, have not been mentioned in the interest of post longevity.

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About me

Wine and Spirits is not just my passion, it is my raison d'être, the pull of which compelled me to give up my Army career of 23 years to pursue it full time. A Champagne Scholarship, hands-on experience in vineyards across Europe and connecting with the global beverages world have been propelling this passion no end. Life suddenly started being more meaningful ever since I decided to empower myself with the belief- “In Vino Veritas”! - Read More